Bayreuth, 23 October 1874: ". . . Wagner has been so enchanted with the snuff box that . . . he thinks it (and he is right) quite a little masterpiece . . . ; he has had ordered an étui made for the little jewel, and wants it to be upon his writing table, to snuff out of it on great occasions, and to see it always. . . . I am glad to have . . . found once more that our friendship remains the same through years and distances! I wrote today to H[ans] v[on] B[ülow] to tell him of the Stift [Luisenstift: boarding school; location of Cosima's two eldest daughters] and also of the english Lady . . . . Do you think I could ask Bertha von Bülow to go from time to time to pay a visit to my children if they would come in the Stift? . . . .
"Today I begin the new publication of Nietzsche and I do find it so beautiful that I send it to you; he is truly a very exceptionally intelligent man. . . ."
Bayreuth, 26 April 1877: ". . . . I was obliged to give Isolde [von Bülow, Cosima's daughter] in Altenburg to see orthopedic institute; it was hard to see, but I hope she will soon be recovered and return to me. . . ."
Np, 29 July 1878: ". . . It must be magnificent in Norway; my husband has kept the most vivid impression of the Fjords, which he saw almost forty years ago . . . . [W]e are . . . enjoying our life which the shine of genius makes always grand and always new. . . .
"I heard also that the dresdner theatre [Semperoper in Dresden] was a failure . . . and that 800 persons cannot see in it, but that it is beautiful to be seen. Pity, that a theatre has more the tendency to let people see, than to be itself seen. My husband sends best regards to you and Carlo, and I send all my love with a sort of bitterness . . . you would not care much to see me? was very unkind indeed, after a friendship of twenty two years, o! . . ."
with--Commemorative tin plate featuring profile of Richard Wagner in relief with decorative border, bronze patina. 17 inches in diameter. 20th century.